Lapane Study: Genderless Society

Lapane is a tidally locked planet. Because of this, there is a strip of comfortably habitable land. On the edges are barely habitable lands from the Desert to the Tundra. Due to the overpopulation on Earth, some humans expanded out to Lapane. Their population stayed within the comfortably habitable part of the planet.

That was thousands of years ago. Facing the same problem of overpopulation, people had to pay to stay in the habitable part, the Center. Those that couldn’t afford to stay were sent to the edges, the Tundra, which was extremely cold, and the Desert, which was extremely hot. Both are barely habitable.

Those in the Desert come in bands and tribes. They are foragers, as much as they can be. The Desert provides little that can be eaten. They drink cactus juice, Ponilon (a creature similar to an armadillo) meat, and bugs. They are also provided canned meals from the Center.

The first inhabitants of the desert had very slurred speech from the heatstroke. They based down this form of speaking to their children and they based it onto theirs. So, modern day Desertese is a very slurred form of Chinese and English.

The High Hydro Priest judges those who commit crimes. People are forbidden from disrespecting the water. Spitting in, spilling, sneezing in, ect is seen as disrespectful. The highest crime that can be committed is to waste water. Stealing is also highly punished, but less so than wasting water. With so little of it, every drop becomes important. Even spitting is seen as a waste of water, as you lose moisture in your mouth.

As children, Desert people are introduced to all foods and liquids they may encounter. If they have an allergic reaction, they are left to die. The Desert doesn’t have the resources to take care of those with allergies. On a child’s thirteenth Hydroquinox, they are sent to fend for themselves in the Desert for a full week. If they are able to survive, they are accepted into society. This keeps the population down and resilient.

When Lapane was first colonized, gender was far less of a prevalence than it was in Earth’s societies. In the Desert, it lost all meaning completely. No person is seen as superior because of their gender. Desertese did away with gendered speech. In that aspect, it is very much like Chinese. There were no actors or actresses, simply actors. No boys or girls, just people. It made speech much easier to learn and relay.

A full tribe is considered a family structure. Because of the lack of resources, reproduction is discouraged. So, couples that cannot reproduce (usually infertile) are allowed marriage. Married couples may have sex whenever they’d like. Those who can are not allowed marriage and must seek permission from the chief to attempt to reproduce. A small number of couples are allowed to attempt each year. This helps keep the population down. Those who have the same birth parents are never allowed to attempt reproduction. Too many genetic issues arise and they cannot waste the resources on pregnancy on children who will not live to adolescence.